Cabinet reshuffle: 'AIADMK's indecisiveness, Shiv Sena's attitude prompted BJP to keep allies out,' say JD(U) sources

The Janata Dal (United), which came back in the NDA fold only last month, has said that the option of joining Narendra Modi cabinet was on the cards but internal differences within the AIADMK and the reported stand taken by Shiv Sena prevented that from happening. A top leader of the JD(U), considered close to chief minister Nitish Kumar, claimed there was absolutely no differences with BJP or within the party over joining the Union Cabinet. [caption id=“attachment_3958193” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File images of Nitish Kumar and Narendra Modi. PTI[/caption] “Nitish Kumar was open to consider the proposal of joining the cabinet as he himself said but there was no consensus within other constituents of the NDA till the last minute. Shiv Sena was perhaps demanding more share and AIADMK government in Tamilnadu was also far from stable. These are the reasons why the prime minister and Amit Shah chose to limit the rejig within BJP,” He explained. However, he claimed that a short expansion of the cabinet was likely very soon after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s return from China. “Only a few days after Amit Shah made the request, our party joined the NDA . This amply clarifies that we would join the union cabinet if invited. I am expecting a short expansion soon which will be only for allies,” he claimed. Senior BJP leader and state’s health minister Mangal Pandey said that JD(U) was NDA’s natural allies and rubbished reports of differences over portfolio allocation. “Union cabinet is a matter of our central leadership but I can tell you for sure that there are no differences with the JD(U) over this issue in the state,” he said. However the opposition used this as a weapon to attack the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad claimed that Nitish and team were shown the mirror by Amit Shah. “These people (JDU) were desperate for getting invitation. In fact they announced names of the probable ministers from their party. But BJP is now playing their game. Nitish will realise soon,” he said. Names of JD(U)’s MPs RCP Sinha and Ramnath Thakur propped up as probable ministers but it became clear by Saturday evening that the party was not joining the Modi government.